

RadioPlanner 2.1
Mobile and Broadcast Network Planning
RadioPlanner 2.1 is RF planning tool for:
- GSM / WCDMA / CDMA / UMTS / LTE / 5G networks
- P25 / TETRA / DMR / dPMR / NXDN / GSM-R /McWiLL land mobile radio networks
- Networks based on wireless IoT technologies: LoRa, SigFox, and others
- Precision agriculture systems
- DVB-H / DVB-T / DVB-T2 / ISDB-T / ATSC / DAB / DAB+ terrestrial radio and television broadcast networks
- Air-to-ground communication systems and radionavigation operating in the VHF, UHF, and microwave frequencies (UAV (Drone) Control, Air-to-ground radio, ADS-B, VOR, DME etc.)
This video is quite old, there will be a new video soon, see the User Manual for all the current RadioPlanner features.
RadioPlanner 2.1 uses the following propagation models:
- ITU-R P.1812-4 model
- Longley-Rice (ITM) model v 1.2.2
- ITU-R P.1546-6 model (for broadcasting only)
- Combined ITU-R P.528-3 + P.526-14 model (for aeronautical radio only)
RadioPlanner 2.1 performs various RF prediction types for mobile networks:
- Received Power uplink/downlink
- Strongest Server (Best Server)
- C/I ratio
- Area with Signal above Both the Base and Mobile Thresholds
- Number of servers above uplink
Area studies for terrestrial radio and television broadcast transmitters:
- Field Strength at the Receiver Location
- Strongest Server (Best Server)
- FCC contours
- ITU-R P.1546-6 contours
- Calculation of the population in the coverage area based on the OpenStreetMap project database
- Generation of the list of localities covered by broadcasting
Area studies for air-to-ground communication systems:
- Received power Air-to-Ground link
- Received power Ground-to-Air link
- Strongest (most likely) Server Air-to-Ground link
RadioPlanner allows you to do:
- Frequency planning of radio networks considering co-channel and adjacent channels interference
- Points calculation showing the path profile, losses, and levels of the signal and interference on co-channel and adjacent channels
- Calculation of uplink/downlink Rx levels for a set of IoT end-devices: LoRa, SigFox, and others, located in different conditions.
- Import the measurement results of the received signal power levels for comparison with calculated values and adjust propagation model parameters
- Save the coverage prediction result as an interactive web page, PNG image, CSV file, MIF file, or a KMZ file
- Flexible adjusting of the layers on the base map and show custom vector layers
GIS features:
- Terrain elevation data 2-30-m plane resolution (for more details on data sources see Appendix 3. Terrain Elevation Data in User Manual)
- A clutter model with nine clutter types. The built-in clutter model was created from the OpenStreetMap (www.openstreetmap.org) and Global Forest Change (www.earthenginepartners.appspot.com) projects. If necessary, the simple and easy-to-use Clutter Editor will allow the user to prepare their own clutter model based on new satellite imagery.
- Any kind of base map—both common (such as OpenStreetMap, OpenTopoMap, US Topo, etc.) and custom ones.
Received Power Uplink
Strongest (Best) Server
Point Calculations
Measurement Analysis
Coverage saved as a web page
Received Power Uplink

Strongest Server (Best Server)

C/I Ratio

Point Calculations

Coverage saved as a web page (clickable)
Measurement Analysis

Clutter model

Clutter Editor

Population Coverage for TV broadcasting

User Reviews & Testimonials
Michael Duncan
AVE Technologies, Australia
October 18th, 2021
Our company has been using the RadioPlanner and MLinkPlanner software with great success in planning and developing coverage studies for a number of our large industrial clients. The RadioPlanner and MLinkPlanner software, when used together, gives us the ability to confirm the coverage and link paths for all aspects of PMR digital radio networks, along with associated IP wireless backhaul systems for our clients. The output reports from the software are very professional, and the ability to export maps to Google Earth gives even greater flexibility for the presentation of information.
The software is highly configurable whilst also being very easy to use. We got going and were generating quality outputs within an hour. The provided equipment library files are very extensive and already contained just about every product and antenna that we wanted to perform modeling for (Such as Cambium, RFI, Ubiquiti).
Oleg from CTT/Wireless Planning has also been very helpful in our support requests to import custom terrain data for use on jobs where the client has recently performed large excavations.
I highly recommend this software to anyone who needs to perform RF planning and predictive coverage works.
Asger Hartmann
Denmark
September 1st, 2021
I was looking for an easy to use application for coverage prediction and planning. I came accross the Radioplanner2 tool.
The tool is easy to install and easy to start using.
The tool offers coverage maps based on downlink signal and minimum RSSI values. Also, uplink prediction based on MS signal and base station sensitivity is possible.
What I found very useful, however - is the combined plot - giving the option of plotting coverage in relation to both downlink as well as uplink at same time.
The tool offers options for entering details like cable length and cable type - which is important in relation to basing the plot calculation on the most accurate data.
Also, antenna characteristics can be entered - either by using a generic antenna type - or importing the characteristics via data from antenna vendor.
Andrew Miles, Chief Architect
Telet Research, London
Thank you for developing RadioPlanner2.1 - it is one of the most usable and productive tools of its type that I have seen so far.
Mick Cooper
Telet Research, London
This is a wonderful platform, I am very impressed. So much quicker than other ones I have used, and the mapping is excellent.
Wilson Martins
Campinas, SP, Brasil
I have been working, a lot, on broadcasting systems, Digital TV, FM Radio and Terrestrial Digital radio links around my country and also in some other places in the world. I'm very satisfied with RadioPlanner 2.1 and MLinkPlanner, which has made my work much faster and at the same time allowed me to greatly improve the technical quality of the projects I have been working on. I'm also very grateful for the immediate help I received when I needed to replace my computer's hard disk, an action that forced me to reinstall all the software. I take the opportunity to congratulate everyone at CCT for the excellent work done.
Ronaldo Cidade
Technical Manager CCTEL Radiocomunicação. Brazil
February 25, 2021
We acquired the RadioPlanner and saw that it is at the level of the best prediction software on the market, without abusive prices.
Congratulations to the creators of the RP, it has helped us a lot in our TETRA link projects.
Diego Kosta
HGSS - Hrvatska gorska sluzba spasavanja (Croatian mountain rescue service)
January 30, 2021
Radioplanner is very simple to use but also a powerful software. You can customize a lot of parameters and simulate real-life equipment.
We liked very much that it can combine coverage of multiple DMR repeaters in an area, that is great when you have multiple linked repeaters and want to get their total coverage.
Eric THIEBAUT
A.N.T. Conseil
France
September 25, 2020
New to RadioPlanner (also being a user of many other modeling and GIS software) I am very happy with the quality of the product, its simplicity, its ergonomics, and the results obtained are excellent. In addition, we asked for some new functionalities and the exchanges with the technical service were cordial and efficient ... These new functionalities were developed (very quickly). This is really very appreciable. Thank you and keep it up
Zlatko Zahirović
Oakville
Ontario, Canada
June 11, 2020
CTT made network planning an absolute breeze. The features are incredibly comprehensive and advanced. The pricepoint is also incredibly reasonable, they are easily 100 times cheaper than the enterprise software that leads this field. Customer service is also incredible and highly responsive, the customer support makes the usage of this software extremely easy and is always helpful.
Alexander Capaul
Nägele-Capaul communications AG
Switzerland
March 31, 2020
I bought your package RadioPlanner and MlinkPlanner this morning online. Then I installed the RadioPlanner and got the first prediction within 30 min on the screen.
Your program has very good maps and also the clutter data is ok in my region.
The terrain height I checked in your map in front of my Office and it was within 1m exact this means you have very accurate terrain data
RadioPlanner is very easy to use and I didn't have to use any manual to get the first prediction.
My compliments to our team of developers! They did very good work.
It is very nice easy to use RadioPlanner and delivers very accurate predictions Since I calculated an existing VHF DMR Transmitter Site we built a few months ago and we have known the practical coverage or dead spots in the coverage area
Your prediction showed also these dead spots, I got them from feedback from the users of the systems.
The huge choice of Maps is fantastic.
I am truly satisfied with your Software
Best regards
Bert Rushford | Principle Consultant
Obsidian Consulting, LLC
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
May 21, 2019
Obsidian Consulting, LLC has been evaluating RadioPlanner 2.1 software for about two weeks. We limited our testing to 700/800mHz P25 and analog Land Mobile Radio (“LMR”) systems. Our primary evaluator has been designing and implementing LMR systems for 30 years. Part of that 30-year tenure was with Motorola where he helped Motorola develop its own proprietary LMR propagation modeling software. Our other consulting engineers also have decades of LMR system design experience. As a team, we are very impressed with RadioPlanner 2.1’s features, functionality, accuracy, and ease of use! A word of caution – “ease of use” is a relative term. If you are an experienced LMR engineer you will find it easy to navigate and populate the software’s data fields and generate your first propagation map. If not, RadioPlanner is intuitive enough that trial and error will get you positive results.
RadioPlanner 2.1 offers many useful features to provide accurate LMR propagation modeling. Two of our favorites are: 1) the point calculation; and, 2) the co-channel carrier to interference ratio (“C/I”) and carrier to adjacent channel ratio (“C/A”) tools. The point calculation provides a point-to-point (“PTP”) terrain path profile calculation, with terrain view, between the selected LMR site and any point within the LMR coverage area of interest. This built-in PTP feature is nice to further analyze areas of weak LMR coverage and visually see why the area falls below the desired threshold. It is also a great tool to use during client presentations as the path profile illustrates path obstructions that degrade the RF signal; which audience members’ can easily understand. This PTP calculation can be performed on the fly in a matter of seconds – again great for client presentations. The C/I and C/A tools are useful for modeling multi-channel trunking systems. For us, this great a great feature, as most of our system designs are 700/800mHz trunking systems. The program allows easy entry of all the LMR’s trunking frequencies and demonstrates how co-channels and adjacent-channels could impact the LMR trunking system’s performance. These are just two of our favorite RadioPlanner 2.1 features but the program offers many other beneficial features such as, to name a few; 1) uplink and downlink signal strength coverages maps, 2) coverage maps of areas where the signal strengths are above both the LMR site and the subscriber’s threshold; and, 3) the ability to save your work as a KMZ file. The program can also calculate various, user selectable, clutter losses and easily allows for demonstrating in-building coverage losses.
As part of our assessment, we also tested RadioPlaner 2.1’s predicted coverage against the actual coverage produced by two active LMR trunking systems. One is a 700mHz P25 LMR, digital only, trunking system and the other one is an 800mHz analog LMR trunking system. We did not perform an exhaustive coverage test as we would during a formal LMR coverage acceptance test. Instead, we programmed two portable radios and selected locations, within the predicted coverage area, that exhibited less than desirable coverage. We then drove to the selected areas and initiated multiple push-to-talks while overserving the radios received signal strength. What we discovered is that the predicted coverage paralleled the actual coverage for both the 700mHz and 800mHz systems extremely well. We would be very confident using RadioPlanner to model and define LMR site selection for wide-area multi-site 700/800mHz systems; and/or, single-site systems.
Based, on our relatively short assessment, there are two items that would be nice-to-have. One nice-to-have would be a clickable zoom-in zoom-out function displayed on the coverage map’s output similar to those found in Google Earth or Google maps. It would also be useful if the zoom-out/zoom-in function remained focused on the area of interest rather than having to pan back to the area of interest. There is a pull-down menu you can click to change the coverage map’s eye-level view or you can also use your mouse’s scroll knob to provide an equivalent function; but, you still need to pan back to the area of interest. The other nice-to-have would be a data field to add system gain derived from a tower top amplifier (“TTA”) on LMR base station’s (“Station”) receive side. Fortunately, the program allows a different set of parameter to be used for the station’s transmit and receive antenna systems. As such, you can set the station’s receive antenna system to any height, be it equal to or not to the transmit antenna’s height, and zero out the receive coaxial line losses if your system is utilizing a TTA. You can also lower the station’s receive threshold if your system uses a TTA. The program also has a diversity gain data field in the station’s parameters that may accomplish the same results as having a dedicated TTA input gain field. But, we did not experiment with the diversity gain input during our evaluation. We set our station’s receive side line loss to zero.
These are very minor items and the program’s excellent performance greatly out ways these nice-to-haves. Overall we would strongly recommend this program to anyone interested in a very nicely designed, flexible and multi-faceted RF propagation modeling tool. We also note that RadioPlanner’s email tech support was excellent even though their tech support is several hours ahead of us.